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Macron takes another hit as Hulot quits
Wednesday, August 29th, 2018
at , World

Latest resignation is a reminder that Macron’s presidency hinges on success or failure of his domestic programme

By BLOOMBERG

PARIS • It’s been a long, hot summer for Emmanuel Macron.

The French president went into the break buffeted by a scandal over a rogue aide and returned to a string of bad news on the economy and his reform agenda.

But the biggest blow came out of nowhere yesterday: His star minister for energy and the environment, Nicolas Hulot, resigned, citing “small steps” taken by Macron’s administration for the planet.

While not the first minister to quit, Hulot’s critique is particularly cutting for Macron, who came to power last year saying that his election was the embodiment of France’s transformation, even revolution.

One day after a foreign-policy speech loaded with grand ambitions, the resignation is a reminder that Macron’s presidency hinges on the success or failure of his domestic programme.

“It takes time to change things in a country and Macron knows it, but what we see now is a climate, a change of mood in France over his actions,” said Bernard Sananes, who heads Paris-based polling institute Elabe. “He’s facing severe headwinds.”

Domestic Obstacles
The 40-year-old leader, known internationally for his proactive, reform-focused agenda, is running into obstacles at home as he prepares for a fresh wave of economic overhauls, from taxes to social benefits, that threatens to alienate even more voters.

His government has warned that the economy won’t grow as fast as planned this year and next — closer to 1.7% than the 2% targeted — making any new budget cuts even more difficult for the French to swallow.

Stubbornly, high unemployment and an economic expansion that lags that of France’s European peers are rubbing away the sheen of Macron’s 2017 victory.

Over the past eight months his approval rating fell 18 percentage points to 34%, his lowest according to pollster Ifop. A majority of French believe his policies are disappointing and see his actions as negative for the country, according to Elabe.

Overhauling France is a “systemic” project “and it’s normal that it takes some time”, Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud said yesterday on Europe 1 radio, shortly before Hulot announced his surprise resignation on another network.

Penicaud agreed that unemployment wasn’t falling fast enough despite the labour-law reforms and the company stimulus she and her colleagues launched in the past 15 months. “It’s long-haul work,” she said.

Unemployment still hovers above 9% and has dipped by just 0.3 percentage points since Macron took power, despite a series of measures to make the job market more flexible and to tighten control over benefits.

‘Dislocating’ System
For political opponent and France Unbowed party lawmaker Adrien Quatennens, the addition of Hulot’s resignation is a signal that “the whole Macron system is dislocating”, he said on BFM Television.

Hulot, 63, resigned, blaming the Macron administration’s lack of action to protect the environment against pesticides or land destruction and in sheltering biodiversity, among other causes he sought to promote.

A vocal environmentalist for decades who made television programmes about nature, Hulot was one of Macron’s most prominent ministers. He said he hadn’t notified the president or the prime minister ahead of his radio announcement.

Such was his influence that Hulot’s decision to quit prompted some movement on the markets. Shares of Electricite de France SA — the national energy company that owns the country’s nuclear reactors — gained as much as 2.7% after the minister announced his resignation.

The government is preparing its energy policy road map for the next 10 years, which aims to reduce the use of nuclear power. Electricite de France is trying to convince Macron to agree to new atomic plants to replace part of its aging fleet.

Useless Madness
France is “persisting” in a nuclear industry that’s “useless madness, economically and technically”, Hulot said on the radio. “I haven’t managed to convince on all those issues.”

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said he only found out as Hulot spoke on radio, and that the surprise resignation “lacks courtesy” to the president. “I wished he had stayed,” said Griveaux, praising Hulot for his work.